GOP U.S. Senate candidate Chris Vance: I will not vote for Donald Trump

Updated 11:20 am, Thursday, May 5, 2016

U.S. Senate candidate Chris Vance, a former Washington Republican chairman, said Thursday that he cannot and will not vote for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

And GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bill Bryant challenged incumbent Gov. Jay Inslee to stop using Trump as a bogey man and debate his challenger on both sides of the Cascades.

Trump "is not the answer," said Vance, who has made the national debt a centerpiece of his long-shot challenge to four-term Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.

"His (Trump's) economic policies -- such as they are -- would drive our debt even higher, and destroy jobs," Vance argued. "And his views on defense and foreign policy are naive and dangerous."

"I will vote for (Ohio) Gov. John Kasich in the Washington State presidential primary. "In November I will either vote for a third-party candidate, if a responsible conservative alternative emerges, or simply not vote for president.

"I understand and respect that other Republicans will make a different choice. This is a difficult and unprecedented time for our party, and I take no joy in not supporting the presumptive Republican nominee, but I must place conscience and principle ahead of party."

Trump is due in the Northwest this weekend, with stops in both Washington and Oregon.

The state Democratic Party is pulling out all stops to link Republican candidates with their presumptive nominee.

The Dems' effort has, as its main aim, keeping GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Bryant from gaining traction in his challenge to Inslee. Democrats have held the governor's office for 32 years.

Bryant, on the road in Yakima County, sent an email laying out a challenge to the Democratic incumbent.

"Salmon recovery, fixing education to meet the needs of kids, making government work better for people who need services, those are the issues that motivated me to leave my company and run for Governor," said the former Seattle port commissioner.

"These are the issues I want to talk about. I understand Jay Inslee wants to run against Trump, but he is running against me and he should accept the invitations to debate these issues in June."

Bryant suggested two debate venues. One is the upcoming Association of Washington Business meeting in Spokane. The second is the Association of Washington Cities meeting in Everett.

What to do about Trump? Mainstream Republicans of Washington will gather May 13-15 in Leavenworth for itsr annual Cascade Conference, where the subject is sure to come up.

Those in attendance will, however, see a living symbol that all is not lost.

A young Republican civil engineer and legislator, Dan Evans, ran in 1964 against two-term Democratic Gov. Al Rosellini. It was the year that Lyndon Johnson beat Barry Goldwater by a margin of 17 million votes.

Goldwater was held to under 40 percent of the vote in Washington. But Evans unseated Rosellini while another young Republican, A.L. "Lud" Kramer, upset Democratic Secretary of State Vic Meyers.